Nigel de Jong says the memories of Manchester City's derby defeat will be all but erased if they can finish fourth and qualify for the Champions League this season.

Paul Scholes's injury-time goal for Manchester United left City and their manager, Roberto Mancini, stunned, and opened the door for Tottenham Hotspur to reclaim fourth place later on Saturday.

"If we can get into the Champions League, no one will be complaining about the four games against United," De Jong said. "If we get fourth this will be forgotten – that is football. Losing at home to United is going to hurt. But we are still in the fight. We have to try to bounce back and show people what a great team we are."

As De Jong points out, this is a new team, built virtually from scratch at the start of last season.

"It is no fluke that we have done well against United in four games this season and playing well against a top side gives you confidence," he said. "We are all new to each other. It is not like we have had two or three years to grow. We are still close to fourth with four games left."

Having lost their advantage to Spurs, City's task is to match Tottenham's results in their next two matches to set up a mouthwatering confrontation with Harry Redknapp's side at the City of Manchester Stadium on 5 May.

"The Tottenham game looks more and more like the crunch," De Jong said. "But we have Arsenal and Villa before that, so they are pretty big games, especially Villa because they are direct opponents for fourth place.

"People are forgetting about Liverpool but they are still out there as well, so we need points, or one of the other teams will get them and take fourth themselves."